The Southern Renaissance was an important literary movement that emerged in the early 20th century in the US south. Several important writers were part of this movement, and they challenged the common topics and themes of southern US literature. Learn about the Southern Renaissance's characteristics and some of the most important Southern Renaissance writers here.
Southern Renaissance Definition
The Southern Renaissance was a rebirth of southern literature that occurred from the 1920s to the 1960s. It was in part a reaction to and challenge to previous literature that had characterized the American south, while at the same time it reflected changes in US society at large. It is often divided into a First Wave and Second Wave.
Some have questioned rather it should be called a renaissance, as it was not a return or rebirth of earlier forms, but new ones entirely. Nonetheless, the name has stuck. It is worth pointing out that it was almost an exclusive change in literature, mainly fiction and poetry, and, unlike the European Renaissance a couple of hundred years earlier, it did not extend to the visual arts and music.
Southern Renaissance Characteristics
What set the Southern Renaissance apart from previous southern literature was its departure from the common themes in southern literature and examination of new ones.
Post-Civil War southern literature had often invoked the ideas of the "Lost Cause" with a romantic view of the antebellum south. It often portrayed an idyllic southern culture before the war, while ignoring the social evils of slavery and the inequality of the plantation system.
A good example of this is Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind, published in 1936 but indicative of the earlier style. The writings of the Southern Renaissance contrasted with this presentation of the pre-Civil War south.
The Southern Renaissance's writers adopted a new critical spirit, critiquing the past and present of southern society in ways few previous authors had. In many ways, the Southern Renaissance writers were building off the earlier legacy of writers such as Mark Twain and some African American writers like Charles W. Chestnutt, bringing this critical spirit into mainstream southern literature.
There are three main themes that can be seen as part of the Southern Renaissance's characteristics.
Did You Know?
The early 20th century was a time of great social change in the entire United States and literary movements emerged around the country in the 1920s from the Southern Renaissance to the Harlem Renaissance to the writings of F. Scott Fitzgerald and the Jazz Age. As you read about the Southern Renaissance, consider how literature is influenced by both the past and time period in which writers were working.
Burden of History
While previous writers had glorified the antebellum south, these new writers dealt with the difficulty of engaging with the region's history more directly. The region has been a bastion of racism and slavery, was defeated in the Civil War, and underwent the restructuring of the old order during Reconstruction.
More recently, the country had participated in World War One and the country had urbanized. Much of the southern population faced poverty, and racial segregation remained a key feature of southern life. Examining the effects of this past and the divisions of race and class was one of the key characteristics of Southern Renaissance works.
Fig. 1 - Photograph of the children of African American sharecroppers in the south
Identity and Conservative Culture
Another Southern Renaissance characteristic was the way authors engaged with identity. The South was still dominated by a largely conservative culture that valued the family, religion, and community over the individual. Southern Renaissance writers engaged with how individuals defined themselves in this culture.
Race
Connected to the first two Southern Renaissance characteristics, authors in this period also engaged with race in ways previous ones had not. The region had a complicated legacy of slavery and racism, but also a culture that had been heavily influenced by its large African American population. Southern Renaissance writers engaged with this legacy in more objective ways, being farther removed from slavery and the Civil War than previous writers.
Use of New Literary Techniques
While those three main themes influenced the Southern Renaissance's characteristics, the writers of the era also introduced new techniques to their writings. Among these were:
- Stream of consciousness as a storytelling mechanism
- Self-consciousness and experimentation
- Modernist thinking and forms
- Complex narrative forms and techniques, such as non-linear narratives and use of dialects to help convey setting and meaning
Southern Renaissance First Wave
The Southern Renaissance's First Wave is considered to have taken place in the 1920s, 30s, and early 1940s. It was largely a reaction to criticisms of the south's culture.
In 1917, H. L. Mencken, a cultural critic, likened southern culture to the Sahara Desert. The writers of the Southern Renaissance reacted by creating a library of works that could be considered significant and challenged this view of a non-cultured south incapable of producing great works of literature.
This First Wave of the Southern Renaissance largely dealt with the troubled past of the south, especially with racism and the legacy of slavery. It also tried to define the south as a unique cultural place rather than simply a region of the United States, and often emphasized and incorporated oral tradition, dialect, and other traditions. Southern Gothic novels emerged as a subgenre of southern literature as part of the Southern Renaissance's first wave.
Fig. 2 - White sharecroppers in the south
Southern Renaissance Second Wave
The Second Wave of the Southern Renaissance emerged under the influence of the Agrarians. They were a group of writers teaching at Vanderbilt University who celebrated the agrarian tradition of the south and contrasted it to the urbanization of the north.
The Southern Renaissance's Second Wave occurred from approximately 1945 to 1965 and attempted to build on this message of value in the traditions of the south. The writers did this while the south saw new economic development, urbanization, and changes in the post-World War Two and early Cold War period.
Notable Southern Renaissance Writers
William Faulkner is usually seen as the most significant Southern Renaissance writer. His complicated and vivid image of the south's past is at once a critique and celebration of the region's culture and historic legacies.
Fig. 3 - Photo of William Faulkner, one of the most important Southern Renaissance writers
See some of the most important Southern Renaissance writers, their works, and the themes they examined in the table below.
| Southern Renaissance Writer | Major Works | Themes |
| William Faulkner | - As I Lay Dying
- The Sound and the Fury
- Light in August
- Absalom, Absalom!
| Faulkner was one of the southern agrarians. He pointed out the racism and inequality that characterized the south yet also criticized the urban lifestyle of the north and celebrated the traditional rural life of the south, examining the challenges and complexities of life in the south. |
| Zora Neale Hurston | - Mules and Men
- The Eatonville Anthology
- Their Eyes Were Watching God
| Hurston presented the contributions of southern African Americans to the south's traditions. Like many other African Americans, Hurston moved north during the Great Migration, and she is considered part of the Harlem Renaissance. However, her stories were about the past in her native south and invoked African American folklore and told stories of everyday life in the south. |
| Thomas Wolfe | - Look Homeward Angel
- Mannerhouse
- Welcome to Our City
- I Have a Thing to Tell You
| Wolfe wrote both novels and plays. Many of his works were autobiographical in nature and dealt with the coming of age in the south. |
| John Crowe Ransom | - Poems about God
- "Bells for John Whiteside's Daughter"
- "Piazza Piece"
- I'll Take My Stand
- The World's Body
| A poet and early southern agrarian, Ransom was angered by the common presentation of the south as backward. His works celebrated the traditional agrarian life of the south, and he also produced essays on this topic. He also promoted literary criticism that focused on the actual work and literary styles rather than the author's biography. |
| Richard Wright | - Uncle Tom's Children
- Native Son
- Black Boy
| Growing up as an African American son of sharecroppers in Mississippi in the highly segregated south formed the basis of Wright's works. He is known for his realistic, critical, and provoking presentation of the oppression and prejudice that characterized life for African Americans in the south. |
Southern Renaissance - Key Takeaways
- The Southern Renaissance was a literary movement in the American South that took place from approximately 1920 to 1965.
- In it, southern writers came to terms with the region's difficult past, critically examining but also celebrating aspects of southern life and defining it as a unique and significant cultural place.
- Besides examining themes of the south's racist past and conservative culture, they also implemented new literary techniques.
- Some significant Southern Renaissance writers included William Faulkner, Thomas Wolfe, and Zora Neal Hurston.
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